At Hillborough we believe that Science is still seen as one of the core subjects. We hope to empower children to use their curiosity to think for themselves by exploring the world around them. Through methods of enquiry and investigation we want children to discover new concepts and question them scientifically.

The new National Curriculum for Science aims to develop scientific knowledge through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Children should be able to answer scientific questions about the world around them and learn to tackle implications of Science, today and for the future.

Lower key stage 2 - years 3-4

The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

'Working scientifically' is described separately at the beginning of the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive science content in the programme of study. Throughout the notes and guidance, examples show how scientific methods and skills might be linked to specific elements of the content.

Pupils should read and spell scientific vocabulary correctly and with confidence, using their growing word reading and spelling knowledge.

using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

Year 3

Year 3 programme of study (statutory requirements)

Plants

Pupils should be taught to:

identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem, leaves and flowers

explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant

investigate the way in which water is transported within plants

explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.

Animals, including humans

Pupils should be taught to:

identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat

identify that humans and some animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.

Rocks

Pupils should be taught to:

compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties

describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock

recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

Light

Pupils should be taught to:

notice that light is reflected from surfaces

find patterns that determine the size of shadows.

Forces and magnets

Pupils should be taught to:

notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance

observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others

compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials

describe magnets as having two poles

predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.

Year 4

Year 4 programme of study (statutory requirements)

All living things

Pupils should be taught to:

identify and name a variety of living things (plants and animals) in the local and wider environment, using classification keys to assign them to groups

recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

Animals, including humans

Pupils should be taught to:

describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans

identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions

construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

States of matter

Pupils should be taught to:

compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases

observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)

identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Sound

Pupils should be taught to:

identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating

find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it

find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it.

Electricity

Pupils should be taught to:

identify common appliances that run on electricity

construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers

identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery

recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit

recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.

Upper key stage 2 – years 5-6

The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.

'Working and thinking scientifically' is described separately at the beginning of the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive science content in the programme of study. Throughout the notes and guidance, examples show how scientific methods and skills might be linked to specific elements of the content.

Working scientifically

During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:

planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary

taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision

recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, and bar and line graphs

using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests

using simple models to describe scientific ideas

reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations

identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Year 5

Year 5 programme of study (statutory requirements)

All living things

Pupils should be taught to:

explain the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

Animals, including humans

Pupils should be taught to:

describe the changes as humans develop from birth to old age.

Properties and changes of materials

Pupils should be taught to:

compare and group together everyday materials based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets

understand that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution

use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating

give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic

demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes

explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.

Earth and space

Pupils should be taught to:

describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system

describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth

describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies

use the idea of the Earth's rotation to explain day and night.

Forces

Pupils should be taught to:

explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object

identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces

understand that force and motion can be transferred through mechanical devices such as gears, pulleys, levers and springs.

Year 6

Year 6 programme of study (statutory requirements)

All living things

Pupils should be taught to:

describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms, plants and animals

give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.

Animals including humans

Pupils should taught to:

identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and explain the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood

recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function

describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.

Evolution and inheritance

Pupils should be taught to:

recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago

recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents

identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Light

Pupils should be taught to:

understand that light appears to travel in straight lines

use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye

explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes

use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them, and to predict the size of shadows when the position of the light source changes.

Electricity

Pupils should be taught to:

associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit

compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches

use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

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